A Love Letter to TMC
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
Seven years ago, I did something impulsive that changed the trajectory of my life forever. At the very last minute, I reached out to see if it was too late to register for Twitter Math Camp. I cancelled my plans to travel to Florida for my 20th high school reunion and I hopped in the car with a group of strangers and headed to St. Louis to a hotel room with another stranger. It is not hyperbole to say that I mark my professional life by that trip...the years before...and the years after. I was forever changed. I learned that year that I was not alone. That there were others out there so passio ..read more
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Week 4: The Coordinate Plane
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
This is a bit delayed because I had the opportunity to head to Annapolis this weekend for one of the STEM Teacher Training events hosted by the US Naval Academy.  If you are involved in STEM teaching, I highly recommend this experience (and probably should blog about it, but...yknow, life). So, a quick recap of this past week as we began exploring the Coordinate Plane... Day 1: Creating a Need for Precise Vocabulary If you haven't used the Polygraph activities by Desmos, you definitely need to incorporate them.  Students play a "Guess Who" type game with a random classmate r ..read more
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Week 3: Distance on a Number Line
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
I realized that it is definitely not sustainable for me to run a 180 blog and juggle the single mom with kids who play sports gig. Something had to give, and I learned long ago how to give myself grace when I need it. I've decided to try to run a #36weeks blog instead. I actually like this idea better anyway because I conceive of my classes in week sections anyway, so it takes the full week of lessons to explore the given topic. This week was a bit disruptive because there was a family emergency that had me out unexpectedly mid-week which jumbled up the schedule a bit. I had the students work ..read more
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Day 7: Interactive Notebooks
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
Today was a relatively routine sort of day.  This was our first day working in our Interactive Notebooks.  I use the term "interactive" a bit loosely because I really don't spend much time on foldables or other similar features.  I do stick with the format of input on right side and Thinking Space on the left, and we use a table of contents and structure it pretty formally.  Other than that, it is a pretty typical recording of notes.  I model the notes on the document projector with a lot of color coding and I am usually pleased to see students start to naturally adapt ..read more
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Day 6: Clothesline Math
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
We had a lot of fun in class today.  I am definitely not accomplishing the same tasks in each group, but I'm not putting too much pressure on that.  I'd rather the conversations we have be deep and rich than rush through things just to tick things off of my lesson plans.  I am worried about some of the implications of that decision, but for now...it feels like the right call. Opening Bellringer I haven't really talked about our opening routine much, but basically we complete a blank multiplication chart to a musical accompaniment.  Then, we discuss the "expression" date a ..read more
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Day 5: Solar Eclipse Day!
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
Today, we played a little catch up in some classes.  We finished up the Math Habits foldables and one group got their chance at an Estimation 180 task.  The class that is the most behind happened to occur during the eclipse so I still have a little work to do to get them caught up.  For my classes that weren't behind, today was all about the eclipse. Eclipse Research Students were placed in groups and each given a laptop.  I gave them twenty minutes to research and create a presentation on their large dry erase boards.  They had to include a picture and a minimum of ..read more
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Day 4: The Mathematical Habits of Mind
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
We had to play a bit of catch up today. The fire drills yesterday and the slower pace of my afternoon classes means that not all of the groups were at the same point in the plans. My definite take away at the end of this 4-day Unit 0 attempt is that I must have more days to cover all of the foundations I want to get through before heading into the objectives.  I'm thinking I should've approached this as a nine day unit, perhaps with interactive activities to emphasize a different SMP each day. Definite note to self for next year. Interactive Notebook Foldable For several of the classes ..read more
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Day 3: Communicating Our Mathematical Ideas
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
I came home so exhausted last night that blogging wasn't happening.  I didn't even participate in #elemmathchat and almost went to bed fully dressed, so ya...  A 4-day opening week with learners kicks my butt. Yesterday was an interesting day. Not only am I continuing to deal with the time constraint issue in my afternoon class, but two fire alarms before the end of first period meant that three of my classes are a bit behind.  I'm going to be doing a bit of triage today to remain at the pace I want.  If we start with this schedule next year, I am not going to try to fit m ..read more
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Day 2: Perseverance and a Growth Mindset
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
Third Period Class Watching a Clip from Facing the Giants Some of the target areas from yesterday were much improved today.  I did notice that I am going to have to make a very deliberate plan for how to tackle the time issue in my afternoon classes.  When I feel rushed through things, I do not explore the activities as deeply and I also find myself a bit less patient.  My co-teacher and I are going to work on a targeted plan to improve some student habits in there which means doing some triage with the class activities that I use in the morning. Here is how the m ..read more
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Day 1: Working Together to Find Patterns
JamiDanielle
by JamiDanielle
3y ago
[Disclaimer:  I make no promises that I will be able to keep up a #180blog this year.  The time commitments with my children make that quite unreasonable.  I will, however, make the effort to post a #180teach on my class Instagram account if you are following there.] Even after 18 years of teaching, I still get nervous about the first day of school.  All of the new faces and personalities...worrying that I may not be up to the challenge of harnessing all of their energy and channeling it into productive conversations and growth. There is always a sigh of relief at the end ..read more
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